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GNUstep 0.6.5 freeze
teferi writes " The GNUstep project, a GPL'ed implementation of the OpenStep environment, has gone into a code freeze for the 0.6.5 release. The base library is 94% done, and the various parts, including the DPS/DGS graphics backend are coming along well. "
NeXTSTEP (an operating system) was first, and had a damn good programming model, but originally only ran on NeXT's hardware.(which was pretty sweet, but also pretty expensive) (and also one version on RS/6000, running on AIX, again fast, sweet and expensive.).
NeXT then began making moves to dump hardware and make NeXTSTEP available on Intel hardware.
Right around that time, they also started development on OpenStep, which has a very similar object hierarchy to NeXTSTEP, but uses a better object allocation model, and has renamed many methods to make the API "cleaner".
To move an application from NeXTSTEP to OpenStep, you ran a series of scripts that would convert to the new API.
OpenStep was made to run on several OS's including Solaris, Mach (from NeXT), HP/UX and Windows. OpenStep meant two things at the time, both the API and the NeXT delivered operating system as a whole. One was called OpenStep, and the other was OPENSTEP. You guess which was which.
Any ways, Apple bought NeXT so that the NeXT management team could take over Apple, and now all that API is part of OSX Server and soon OSX.
It is easy to move a program from NeXTSTEP to OpenStep or OSX Server. I moved Xox, an arcade style shooter with a few days of work.
It is trivial to move the average program from OpenStep or OSX Server to GNUstep. In many cases the same code compiles on both.
We moved our entire development over to GNUstep, and haven't looked back yet. We found the Foundation kit to be more stable than Apple's and easier to explore.
To purchase it is not like spending money but rather it is an investment in the future in a blow against the empire